First Principles Thinking - Instead of asking "how do I make this process better?", ask "what is actually needed here, and what's the simplest path to it?" This means rejecting the framing you're given and working backward from the true underlying need.
Symptom vs. Problem - The issue someone describes is almost always a symptom. "The report takes two days" is a symptom. "Leadership lacks current competitive data when making decisions" is the problem. Building for the symptom produces something that technically works but doesn't help.
Two Doors of Discovery - Discovery either starts with an existing workflow you need to understand deeply enough to improve, or a gap where no process exists and you need to identify what to build from nothing. Both require the same core skill but different approaches.
Before touching the process itself, define the boundaries:
Look for three things across the organization:
First Principles Thinking - Instead of asking "how do I make this process better?", ask "what is actually needed here, and what's the simplest path to it?" This means rejecting the framing you're given and working backward from the true underlying need.
Symptom vs. Problem - The issue someone describes is almost always a symptom. "The report takes two days" is a symptom. "Leadership lacks current competitive data when making decisions" is the problem. Building for the symptom produces something that technically works but doesn't help.
Two Doors of Discovery - Discovery either starts with an existing workflow you need to understand deeply enough to improve, or a gap where no process exists and you need to identify what to build from nothing. Both require the same core skill but different approaches.
Before touching the process itself, define the boundaries:
Look for three things across the organization:
